Provided by Dana Wharf Sportfishing
The last two weeks of fishing have been excellent for local anglers, with good conditions, clean water, and steady action across multiple fisheries.
Water temperatures ranged from 63° to 67°, and the clean water combined with solid current really helped set things up nicely. Bass fishing for the 1/2-day anglers continued to produce well, with flylined anchovies and baits fished on light sliding sinkers accounting for a ton of the action. Calico bass were eager to bite, with anglers having a legit shot at fish on nearly every bait during the better conditions.
Artificial baits also produced plenty of bites over the past two weeks. Hard jerkbaits like the Lucky Craft and SP Minnow, along with swimbaits, surface iron, and rubber lures, all got bit consistently.
Sand bass fishing also continues improving as more fish begin grouping up in their pre-spawn areas. Reverse dropper loops fished over hard bottom in 50 to 70 feet of water worked especially well for sand bass, while also producing quality sheephead. Anglers fishing shrimp and clam had excellent sheephead action overall, including some fish reaching well into the double digits. The 6-pack boat Current found excellent sheephead fishing in some shallower zones during the week.
Halibut action also improved over the hard bottom areas, with several quality fish hitting the deck, including a couple around the 20-pound mark. A few smaller white seabass in the 30-inch range also showed up for lucky anglers fishing the right zones.
On the rockfish side, the 14 Mile Bank has been fishing exceptionally well, with near-limit style action on many trips. Both live bait and vertical jigs produced excellent results. Jig anglers fishing 250g to 350g setups on light braid seemed to have the best success overall. Chrome, blue/pink, green, and pink jigs all got bit well over the last two weeks.
The deeper water catch consisted mostly of mixed bags of quality bank rockfish, with large bocaccio, chilipeppers, and some nice Florida-style reds making up the bulk of the catch out in 100-plus fathoms.
Twilight fishing was also very productive, with solid bass action and good mixed bottom fish counts continuing during the evening hours.
Over at San Clemente Island, the Fury found excellent calico bass fishing. Both live bait and artificial lures produced steady action, and there was no problem getting bites. Sheephead, whitefish, and rockfish rounded out the counts, while bonito provided some fun surface action around the island as well.
Unfortunately, the Fury wasn’t able to make it off the dock this past weekend, so there wasn’t much of an updated San Clemente Island report. But with the way things have been fishing lately, there’s little doubt the excellent bass fishing is still right where it needs to be, along with those smaller yellowtail the boat left biting there the previous week.
On another note, anglers are encouraged to pay attention to Tuesday’s Fish and Game Commission meeting regarding public comment on the petition opposing expansion of the Laguna Beach Marine Protected Area, along with proposed MPA expansion discussions in San Diego.
